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Philippa Maude of Toulouse (c. 1073–28 November
1118), also known as Philippa de Toulouse or
Philippa de Rouergue, was the Duchess Consort of
Aquitaine, and Countess
of Toulouse. She is also considered by some
historians as a Queen consort of Aragon and Navarre; however, that
designation is based on a claimed marriage to King Sancho Ramirez of Aragon, which is now
considered suspect.

Philippa was born in approximately 1073 to Count William IV of Toulouse, and his wife
Emma of Mortain. She was his only surviving child, and thus, by the
laws of Toulouse, his heiress. In 1088, William went on a
pilgrimage to Palestine,
leaving his brother Raymond of
Saint-Gilles as regent. Before he left, it is claimed, he also
married his daughter to the King of Aragon in order to disinherit
her;[1]
however, evidence suggests that Sancho was still married to his
previous wife at the time of his death in 1094.)[2]

Philippa's early life - if she was not married to Sancho Ramirez
of Aragon - is something of a mystery. It is known that she did not
marry William IX of
Aquitaine until 1094, after the death of her father and the
succession of her uncle; the circumstances in which she lived prior
to her father's death, the manner of her disinheritance, and the
arrangement of her marriage, are thus unknown. Those historians
that argue her to have been married to Sancho Ramirez argue that
her removal from Toulouse prevented her from effectively claiming
her inheritance, and that with the death of Sancho, she was free to
remarry based on her own choice.[3] What is
certain is that, upon the death of Count William, Philippa's claims
were ignored, and Raymond became count. Philippa then married
William, Duke of Aquitaine, whom she considered worthy due to his
numerous merits: a handsome man fully capable of flattering a
woman, he was not only one of the most prominent Dukes in Europe,
able to give her the life she felt she deserved; his realm was also
conveniently situated next to Toulouse, and consequently would
easily be able to regain her homeland for her own - as indeed, the
Duke promised to do for her. Consequently, the two swiftly
married.[4] Why she
was allowed by her uncle to marry such a dangerous man, or indeed
if Raymond had any choice in the matter, is unknown.

When Raymond IV of Toulouse set out on the First Crusade in
the autumn of 1096, he left his son Bertrand to
rule the County. However, in the Spring of 1098, William and
Philippa marched into the city of Toulouse, and took control
without a single life being lost. In the next year, she gave birth
to her first child in the city: William the
Toulousain.

She was stunned in 1100 when her husband mortgaged Toulouse to
her cousin Bertrand in exchange for a vast sum of money, which the
Duke used to go on Crusade himself. Philippa, removed from her
home, was sent to his capital of Poitiers, from where she ruled Aquitaine on
behalf of her husband whilst he was absent.

After William's return, he and Philippa for a time lived
contentedly with each other, producing a further five daughters,
and a son, Raymond. She also ignored the Duke's sexual boasting in
song and talk, instead concentrating on religion (in particular the
Abbey of Fontevrault, of which she was a keen sponsor), especially
the teachings of the Fontevrault founder, Robert d'Arbrissel, who preached the
superiority of women over men. Her obsession with a doctrine
considered offensive by many men of that time, combined with
William's growing dissatisfaction with her, and his teasing of her
(claiming to be founding an abbey of prostitutes), led to discord
in the marriage.

Toulouse had been won back by William for his wife in 1113,
following the death of Bertrand in Syria in 1112: his heir being
his half-brother, the 9 year old Alphonse-Jourdain, William had been
unopposed. Thus, by 1114, Philippa was spending most of her time
ruling there. Accordingly, she was less than pleased when, upon her
return from Toulouse to Poitiers in 1114, she discovered her
husband to have moved his mistress, Viscountess Dangereuse of Châtellerault,
into her palace. Philippa appealed to friends and the church for
assistance in ousting her husband's mistress, but to no avail -
none could persuade the Duke to give up his mistress.

In 1116, a humiliated Philippa, devastated by her husband's
repayment of her service to him for so many years, left the Court,
taking refuge at the Abbey of Fontevrault. There she became a close
friend of her husband's first wife, Ermengarde of Anjou, and the two
spent much time reflecting upon the shortcomings of William.
However, for all Philippa's devotion to the Abbey and its ideals,
she found little peace there, both angry and resentful that her
husband had cast her off in favour of a mistress. She died of
unknown causes there on 28 November 1118, survived by her husband,
his mistress, and Ermengarde, who would shortly attempt to avenge
Philippa by attempting to have Dangereuse banished from
Aquitaine.

Notes

^
Szabolcs de VAJAY, "Ramire II le Moine, roi d'Aragon et Agnes de
Poitou dans l'histoire et la légende", in Mélanges offerts à
René Crozet, 2 vol, Poitiers, 1966, vol 2, p 727-750; and Ruth
E Harvey, "The wives of the first troubadour Duke William IX of
Aquitaine", in Journal of Medieval
History, vol 19, 1993, p 315. Harvey states that, contrary
to prior assumptions, William IX was certainly Philippa of
Toulouse's only husband. Vajay states that the marriage to an
unnamed king of Aragon reported by a non-contemporary chronicler is
imaginary even though it has appeared broadly in modern histories,
and likewise he cites J de Salarrullana de Dios, Documentos
correspondientes al reinado de Sancho Ramirez, Saragossa,
1907, vol I, nr 51, p 204-207 to document that Sancho's wife
Felicie was clearly still married to him just months before his
death, making the marriage to Philippa several years earlier, as
reported in several modern popular biographies of her
granddaughter, completely unsupportable.